Only the Khalifah Responds to the Demands of Muslim Women

Consultation (Shurah) and accounting are both orders of Allah (swt), and among the maxims of Islamic ruling, and they are binding on the Khalifah (caliph). Mutual trust between the ruler and his subjects is ensured through the ruler's consultation and the accounting of the ruler by his subjects. However, with the abolition of the Khilafah (Caliphate), Muslims have been deprived of this source of power, trust and authority. This, our gem, was replaced by a cheap, rotten and deluding system called democracy, produced out of corrupt minds. Democratic elections and parliaments were claimed to be from Islam, likening them to the Islamic principle of Shurah and accountability. They claimed that the Muslim woman was oppressed, silenced and regarded as the unproductive element of society during the centuries under the Khilafah. Instead they promised her to become effective and influential in shaping their own countries, people and the world by means of Western democracy.

Indeed, we see that a handful of Muslim women, who rise to speak with the word "democracy" calling to the ideas and systems of Capitalism, are given the right to speak in Muslim countries, in the UN, in the media and parliaments of the USA or any Islam-hostile capitalist country. They placed a bunch of mindless and soulless persons around them so to create a delusion as if they were able to influence masses. So much so that even they themselves become dazzled by their virtual image. The highlight is, when some of these democratic Muslim women are granted ranks, titles, and awards, and portrayed as strong women with adjectives such as "woman of the year, 100 most influential people in the world" on the cover of magazines and praised as role models, they believe to have gained true achievements. However, all they do is the verbatim implementation of the list of duties they received by their Western mentors. In reality all their speeches ended up as hot air and empty slogans, while failing to improve the lives of Muslim women. They don't see or want to see that it is actually these democratic systems which deprive Muslim women of their powers and abilities, forbidding them to raise their voices as Muslims, instead empowering the colonialists, who cause problems after problems. Those who act within the democratic framework cannot fulfil any of the Muslim women's demands, unless these comply with the conjuncture of their rulers and regimes. That is why we never see the advocates of democracy improving the lives of the women of the Ummah.

As a matter of fact, Muslim women who call their rulers to rule according to the laws of Islam and not according to democracy, are bulldozed by the secular legal systems, and even imprisoned. How misleading it is to talk about women's democratic freedom and rights, while the colonial capitalists, led by the United States, invade our lands and turn them into battlefields, steal our wealth and poison the minds of our youth with their cultural hegemonies, all under the pretext to liberate Muslim women with democracy... While some are applauded for glorifying democracy and freedoms, Muslim women, who call on the armies of the Muslims to save their honour, their lives, their lands, and who call on the Ummah to unity are declared terrorists... In fact, Muslim women who openly express the desires of the majority of the Muslim women, and who demand a solution for their problems as envisaged by Islam, are not only denied a voice on the media of the secular democratic systems, they are denied their right to speak to their rulers. This is, because according to the concepts of democracy, "consultation and accounting" serves to institutionalize all kinds of harams, to undermine the way of life ordered by Allah, and to remove it from the field of life!

However, under the Islamic rule of the Khilafah, which is the form of governance as stipulated to the Muslims by Allah, the woman's word has real value. Islam obliged the ruler of the Muslims, the Khalifah, to provide for the needs of each member of the Ummah. For this, He (swt) ordered him to consult with Muslims and obliged the Muslims to account their ruler. In the Khilafah State, this vital task will be carried out within the Ummah Assembly. The Ummah Assembly (the Majlis al-Ummah) is an assembly of individuals representing the affairs of the Muslims, so that the Khalifah can refer to them on these. These representatives are elected by the Ummah so that they can voice their complaints in respect to unjust acts performed by the rulers or the misapplication of the Islamic laws. Every mature and sane citizen of the State, man and woman, Muslim or non-Muslim, has the right to become a member of the Majlis al-Ummah. Their opinion and advice on actions and practical matters related to the management of the internal affairs, such as the affairs of ruling, education, health, and the economy, industry, farming and the like is binding for the Khalifah. In fact, when the Khalifah seeks their opinion on these issues, he has to take the opinion of the majority. In all of these matters, the word of the Muslim woman is equally effective as the word of the man.

Hizb ut Tahrir engraved this matter in all its details in the Draft Constitution of the Khilafah State – Articles 105 to 111 – along with its Islamic evidences. Muslim women will only be able to express their Islamic ideas and sentiments, and needs, and demand actions in accordance with the pleasure of Allah (swt) within the Islamic system, implemented under the Khilafah. There, their voice will find true correspondence and application in the field of life, as it will be binding on the ruler.

The only place, where we can lead a life according the pleasure of our Lord, is the Khilafah State. It is only the Khilafah State, where we can be influential mothers, wives, daughters, and truly strong politicians. Any other system condemns both Muslim and non-Muslim women to vulnerability to the atrocities arising from the mind and desires of human beings.

(أَفَحُكْمَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ يَبْغُونَ وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ مِنَ اللّهِ حُكْمًا لِّقَوْمٍ يُوقِنُونَ)

“Then is it the judgement of [the time of] ignorance they desire? But who is better than Allah in judgement for a people who are certain [in faith].” [Surah al-Maidah: 50].

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Zehra Malik